By onlinesoph
One thing I really struggle with is trusting God with all my fears and anxieties.
I am naturally an anxious person. I let little things get to me, blow things out of proportion, get carried away with all sorts of scenarios, to the point where I start to worry about what the future holds.
The by-product of being an anxious person is that I find it incredibly hard to stop worrying and trust God. If I were to have a weakness, well then this would be it. The number of times I have laboured over passages like Matthew 6:25 or Phillipians 4:6 is just too many to count. I never understood why something which seems to come so easily for some people – i.e. not worrying – was so difficult to me. And after trying and failing so many times to be at peace, I’ve often felt defeated, ironically more anxious and discouraged with my inability to take God at His Word.
I am far (and I mean really really far) from being able to say that I’ve won in my struggle against anxiety, but I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learnt as a Christian battling against Satan when he tempts me to worry. It seems to be something a lot of women particularly struggle with to varying degrees. I would love it if other people who struggle with anxiety, whether seriously or in fleeting moments, could also share what they have learnt too.
1. Worrying is a sin. That seems harsh, but it’s true. Jesus tells us not to worry and when we do, we show disregard for His word and an inability to trust in Him. Satan loves it when we worry. Even better when we take little worries and turn them into big ones, worries so big that they stop you from loving, serving and finding joy in God. Seeing worry as a sin has helped me try to defeat, rather than nurse my anxiety. It changes my mindset.
2. I cannot stop anxiety by my own strength. I need the Holy Spirit to change my heart, to give me the strength and power to resist the temptation to worry. And I must pray for this power every day. Even if it feels like I’m praying the same prayer over and over again.
3. I also need God’s Word. I love how Paul in Ephesians describes the Bible as the sword of the spirit. God’s Word is a weapon agaisnt anxiety. It reminds us of who God is and why we have no need to be anxious as Christians.
4. Add to that, I need God’s promises. The reason why we don’t need to be anxious is because God has promised us wonderful things, and He never breaks his promise. When I worry, I remind myself of God’s promises to me, of His steadfast love for me. This helps me to step out in faith.
5. I do have the ability, by the Holy Spirit, to control my anxiety. I was quite an anxious child growing up – I had a very active imagination and was terrified of lots of imagined things – so I always thought that this was just the way I am and I had to live with it. After seeing a counselor a few months ago, I realised I do have the ability to control my anxiety; maybe not completely take it away, but manage it with techniques and choices, to a point where it doesn’t affect my health or my quality of life (I have more details on how to do this, if people are interested I can write it in the comments section).
June 11th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Great post. I always like to give things a bit of worry and no matter how busy things are I always find time for worry, even if only briefly. Not that it’s out of control (yet), but thanks for posting about worrying.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Would love to hear about the techniques Soph.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Hi Soph,
God’s timing is perfect, I thanked him for your post just now. A group of my community group women are meeting up next week to to a study on anxiety – your thoughts will be very helpful to us. I’m with Libby, would love to hear your techniques.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Hi Sophie,
Thanks so much for this post!
I’ve struggled with this for a long time and am only just coming to realise the seriousness of it. I too have always thought “it’s just the way I am”.
I’d love to hear your techniques for management too, if they’re not too personal.
Something I’ve found helpful for managing stress and anxiety is Jeremiah 17:5-8. I have these verses stuck up at the end of my bed so I can see them when I go to sleep, wake up and when I’m doing work in bed with the laptop
.
It really encourages me to trust in God.
I also find it helpful to just have a good cry sometimes, although I can’t really control that. It’s often set off by the pressure building up and bursting, or my wonderful fiance holding me, telling me to trust God, and me realising that I haven’t been.
Again, thank you for writing such a helpful post on this issue!
Jess xx
June 12th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Great post Sophie, thanks for sharing!
I’ve struggled with anxiety on and off during my life. Most of the time it’s not much of an issue, but every now and then it’s overwhelming.
Normally for me it’s either involved with trying to make a difficult decision, or with trusting God with an unknown future.
For both, I’ve found it helpful, as you’ve said to confess my sinfulness (where applicable) to God, and to remind myself of His promises.
With decision-making, I’ve found it helpful to realise the difference between right-wrong decisions and wisdom choices and free-choices. It’s helped me not to worry about whether I’ll make the ‘right’ decision (unless I’m dealing with my sinfulness) but focus more on whether my reasons are Godly. And to thank God for the times when I have multiple options, rather than stress about them.
With trusting God with my future, I find it good to remember that God has always been faithful to me in the past, I have no reason not to trust Him!!
Also, I find it helps if I lift my eyes beyond the current thing I’m worried about and focus on the bigger picture. I remind myself that God has save me, that He chose me and loves me. And that one day I’ll stand with Him in heaven look back on [whatever I'm currently anxious about] and it will seem like a blink of an eyelid. Helps me to remember that these worries are but fleeting! (though not to diminish the importance of what others are anxious about, I just find this gives me some perspective on my own concerns, no matter how big and overwhelming they seem at the time).
I’m thankful for what God’s taught me through the process, but know I still have lots more to learn about trusting Him!! Would love to hear your other suggestions/thoughts.
June 12th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
(oops, wrong email with the last post. I’ve corrected it with this one)
June 12th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Jess, Lib, Christine and Aimee, I’ll email you something later today.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
great post Soph. I struggle with anxiety a great deal. Stupidly I only recently reaslised this–I’d just thought life was very stressful, so stressing was the natural reaction!
Your first point is a great one, and the most important for me to remember. Nursing anxiety is sin. In a strange way, I reckon it is linked to pride and arrogance, because I am thinking I am in control, I have the power. Sure, I am stressed because that’s not working, but still I’m not saying ‘God, YOU are in control’, instead I’m fussing about with the belief that I have, or should have the power to fix things.
I think Philipians kind of describes joy as the opposite, or antidote to anxiety, and I think this joy comes directly from the relief of ‘ahhhhhh I am NOT in control! Thank God for that!’
9sorry for the long ramble)
June 13th, 2009 at 11:46 am
I’m loving these comments. How great is it that we can encourage each other to trust God? This is exactly what christians should be doing – reminding each other of God’s word, urging each other to love Him more and honour Him as Lord
June 15th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Hey Soph, Thanks for the post. I’ve been known to go unconscious and start shaking for minutes on end when i get over anxious, especially in medical situations. Have heart pulpitations when i get very worried too, but i think Sam’s coffee company has helped me along there. (should probably see someone huh?)
While it may be logically true that ‘worrying is a sin’, it’s interesting that Jesus never couches it like that. We just looked at Luke 12 at church – a chapter where the message basically is ‘do not fear’. Three times Jesus makes the point not to fear because God looks after the birds and the flowers and we are far more valuable than they.
I don’t know about you, but i find that an extremely comforting motivation.
Thanks,
Nick
June 15th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Forgot to subscribe to comments… had to write this to do so.
June 15th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Hi Nick,
That’s a good point. It’s interesting how although worrying displays mistrust in God, Jesus never seems to treat it with the same ‘harshness’ as he does with other sins (do you think it is a sin? Afte reading your comment I am rethinking this…) The passage in Matthew certainly seems to be a lot more comforting than it is rebuking. I never thought about why that is. Maybe it’s because people who worry tend to be plagued with tender consciences and an accute awareness of their weakness – hence the need for words of comfort, not rebuke, to urge them to trsut God and know that He is a good Father who provides for His children.
I also have had heart palpitations when I am incredibly anxious, as well as an inability to breathe and the massive shakes. Mine are panic attacks – I reckon see someone though if it happens frequently. And as a side point, I think you should always see your GP if you find you’re anxious more often than not.
June 15th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I don’t know. I mean you could easily argue that worrying is a sin. You could define sin as doing or failing to do anything outside what God wants us to do. Or you could define sin as idolatry and argue that worrying leads to that.
But yeah, it is interesting that in both Matthew and Luke, the ‘do not worry’ teachings are connected to a teaching on money just before it. In both Matthew and Luke the logic is ‘don’t be a materialist, but be rich toward God…therefore don’t worry about what you’ll eat, drink, wear etc, God will look after you.’ So the ‘do not worry’ sections, i think, are meant as reassurance that God will look after his people, and should be read with the section before, not as a new command, and not as a rebuke, but an encouragement – i.e. they outline how to emotionally deal with a Christian ethic of money. I’m ranting now, but i love in Luke 12 how in v5 Jesus says, ‘i’ll tell you who to fear, fear him who after killing the body has the power to throw you into hell’, and then in the next verse tells us how valuable we are to God and then in the next verse tells us ‘DON’T be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows’. I love how as readers we begin to fear God throwing us into hell, but then are told immediately how much God loves us, so don’t be afraid.
You mentioned weak consciences and needing comfort not rebuke. I think you’re right. I think there are heaps of introspective Christians who struggle with guilt and feelings of weakness who never seemed to be addressed in sermons where the gospel is absent in place of a solely ‘do this…’ message or worse a ‘a real Christian feels right before God’ message. The only real comfort i think is knowing that ‘it’s not about me at all, my salvation depends on Him alone and he has succeeded’.
To bring this back to fear, i think that there is a sin contained in introspection and that is pride – thinking the world is all about us and depends on us. For those of us with an introspective disposition, we need to be reminded that the world is not about us, what we can do or can’t do, but is about the God who is in control of history, who cares for us in everything and has already made our salvation secure. It’s all about him.
But i wonder whether this above rant is just a reflection on my personal struggles and experiences. May not be relevant for everyone…
June 17th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Hey Soph,
Just some encouragement – I sent a link to this post to one of the high-school girls I lead at church who shared last Sunday her troubles with trusting God and worrying.
She sent me a reply thanking me for the link, that it was perfect timing because she was stressing out about something at the time, but more importantly, she asked me to thank you for writing the post. So thanks! =)